Newspaper readers often turn to the comic strips first and avidly enjoy
the seemingly endless possibilities for storytelling and self-expression. Art
Wood's collection abounds in dazzling examples that demonstrate this indigenous
American art form's amazing potential to amuse, entertain, enlighten and convey
laughs, tears, and thrills. The selection on view captures the range of artistic
talent and the transition of the art form from Richard Outcault's landmark Yellow Kid to Bill Griffith's Zippy the Pinhead. The comics have taken readers on adventures in the air with Alex Raymond and
Dashiell Hammett's Secret Agent X-9, to China with Milton Caniff's Terry and the Pirates, to the criminal underworld with Phil Davis and Lee Falk's Mandrake the Magician, to the lonesome pining of Charlie Brown in Charles Schulz's Peanuts, and back home with Lynn Johnston's For Better or For Worse.

Happy Hooligan Makes a Grand Hit!

Frederick Opper

Hapless Happy Hooligan, a kind-hearted hobo always a little down on his
luck, debuted in the comics pages in 1900. As depicted here, he was a willing
soul who often found himself tricked into predicaments. Frederick Opper (1857-1937),
the cartoonist, had a long career drawing sequential art and single panel cartoons
in such weekly magazines as Frank Leslie's Illustrated News and Puck, before William Randolph Hearst lured him to the New York Journal. A prodigious artist, he created political cartoons, comic strips, and illustrations
before his failing eyesight forced him into retirement in 1932.

Bringing Up Father

George McManus

This thirteen-panel comic strip of Bringing
Up Father by George McManus (1884-1954) presents a classic episode
of the humorous marital drama between main characters Jiggs and Maggie. About
to go out, Maggie tells Jiggs not to leave the house. Jiggs dresses to go out
when he hears that the Cement Mixer's Ball will feature his old friend Dinty
Moore. However, the ball is cancelled. Jiggs, an Irish immigrant laborer suddenly
made wealthy, strives to maintain his old friendships, whereas Maggie continually
aspires to higher social status. McManus drew his highly popular strip from
its debut in 1913 until his death—others continued it until 2000, making it
one of the longest running strips.

Dick Tracy—The Ultimatum

Chester Gould

Dick Tracy, lacking some of the technological devices that he later used
but sporting his trench coat, reports to his boss in one of the first strips.
Chester Gould (1900-1985) modeled the chisel chinned cop after Sherlock Holmes
and cashed in on the growing popularity of detective stories. He kept readers
intrigued with a combination of dialogue and alternating perspectives on the
scenes. Gould drew several comic strips before hitting on his award-winning Dick Tracy in 1931. Although Gould retired in 1977, the comic strip is currently being drawn
and written by Dick Locher and Michael Kilian.

Blondie—Second Wind

Chic Young

Murat Bernard “Chic” Young's (1901-1973)
comic strip about Blondie Boopadoop, a flighty flapper, dating playboy Dagwood
Bumstead, son of millionaire J. Bolling Bumstead, floundered until he decided
to have the couple fall in love. Here, Dagwood, desperate to wed Blondie despite
his father's objections, is on a hunger strike. The couple married on Friday,
February 17, 1933, and Dagwood, stripped of his wealth and family connections,
was nonetheless happy with his unfailingly practical new bride. Americans immediately
warmed to the humorous daily reminders that love, not money, conquers all. Blondie lives on, thanks to Chic Young's son Dean. For more examples of Chic Young's Blondie, see Blondie Gets Married.

Polly and Her Pals

Cliff Sterrett

In this two panel comic strip of Polly
and Her Pals drawn by Clifford Sterrett (1883-1964), the central character Paw brings home
a tiger, that he thought was a hallucination. However, the tiger is real,
having recently escaped from the circus. This experience, which is part of
a series about Polly's family's move to the country, convinces Paw to move
back to the city. The gently humorous strip, starring Polly, her parents,
and diverse relatives and friends debuted in 1912. One of the first to feature
an independent “new woman” of college age, Sterrett also evolved in this strip a unique graphic style with
angular compositions and boldly stylized forms.

Secret Agent X-9

Alex Raymond

In this airplane sequence the title character, Special Agent X-9, stands
in the cockpit aiming his machine gun at a plane carrying “The Mask.” Dashiell Hammett wrote the script and Alex Raymond (1909-1956) drew the hard-boiled
detective comic strip. Hammett left after writing four stories, and Raymond,
too, stopped drawing the strip to devote time to his Flash Gordon. Raymond transformed the art of the comic strip from tight pen-and-ink drawing
to loose dry brush strokes to create a sense of dynamic action. He was drawing
his strip about a scientific detective, Rip Kirby, when he died in an automobile accident.

Terry and the Pirates

Milt Caniff

Milton Caniff (1907-1988), a.k.a. the “Rembrandt
of the Comic Strip,” transformed the comic adventure strip in the 1940s through his ground-breaking
creations Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon. This eleven-panel comic strip contains key elements of his exemplary work—fascinating
characters; gripping story lines dramatically realized; and convincingly rendered
exotic locales. The star, Air Force officer Terry Lee, and a friend visit a
nightclub where Rouge, a striking dancer, performs. Later, Terry settles in
the apartment where Rouge has given him a bed, when the lights dim, he realizes
that a radio transmitter is being operated in the building.

Wash Tubbs

Roy Crane

From its beginnings as a comic strip about a girl-crazy grocery clerk
to a tongue-in-cheek adventure strip, Wash Tubbs kept readers grinning through every hair-raising adventure. Roy Crane (1901-1977)
created a storytelling adventure, complete with the varied artistic angles
and close-ups. Here, Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy have made their way across
Italy, but the trek has taken its toll on both of them. In 1943, Crane switched
newspaper syndicates, left Wash Tubbs behind, starting a new adventure comic strip entitled Buz Sawyer, which he continued until his death in 1977.

Little Orphan Annie

Harold Gray

This eleven panel comic strip of Little
Orphan Annie by Harold Gray (1894-1968), places his key characters amid danger in the jungle.
Pictured here, are Annie, her Indian protector Punjab, and dog Sandy after
they have found the remains of a parachute. Annie informs her benefactor
Daddy Warbucks, who investigates the situation. Daddy deflects a man who
tries to stab him, and Punjab warns the assassin that he will be pressed
to talk. Gray effectively uses cross hatching and black shadows in drawing
figures and settings, which exude an ominous mood. Exotic locale and concise
dialogue display his mature storytelling abilities. Gray drew Annie from its debut in 1924 until his death in 1968.

Barney Google

Billy DeBeck

With the rising popularity of hillbilly comic strips in the 1930s, Billy
DeBeck took his title character, Barney Google, to Hootin' Holler in the mountains
of North Carolina and introduced two new characters to his comic strip, Snuffy
Smith and his wife Lo'wizie. The hard-working Lo'wizie always contrasted sharply
with the lazy Snuffy. William Morgan “Billy” de Beck (1890-1942) began Barney Google in 1919. Fred Lasswell, who had been DeBeck's assistant on the strip when the
characters moved to Hootin' Holler, took over and continued the strip from
1942 until his death in 2001.

Buster Brown

Richard Felton Outcault

As the first of four Buster Brown comic
strips to feature the Yellow Kid, this landmark Sunday strip by Richard F.
Outcault (1863-1928) shows Buster Brown, his friend Mary Jane, and his dog
Tige visiting the Kid in Hogan's Alley. The Kid introduces them to his friends—Liz,
who gives Buster a big kiss; Slippy Dempsey; Mrs. Moiphy; and most memorably,
Plato, the Kid's pet goat, who kicks Tige, then butts Buster Brown. Buster
then wakes up to find that all has been a dream. Outcault had switched newspapers
when he drew this strip, so he could not use Buster Brown in the title but
replaced it with a picture of the boy.

McFadden's Row of Flats

Richard Felton Outcault

Capturing the spirit of football season in the rough and tumble world
of the tenements of New York, the Yellow Kid runs with the ball. Richard Outcault
(1863-1928) endearingly named him Mickey Dugan. He is considered to be the
first popular newspaper comic strip character. Outcault, lured away from Pulitzer's New York World, created this particular page within weeks of his transfer to Hearst's New York Journal and included in many references to the switch. Outcault had produced cartoons
for such American humor magazines as Truth, Life, and Judge before creating the Yellow Kid and the extremely popular Buster Brown.

Thimble Theatre Starring Popeye

Elzie Segar

In this comic strip, self-absorbed J. Wellington Wimpy pulls a flower
growing from the eye of a cow skull and begins to wax poetic. His utterances
are reminiscent of Shakespeare's Hamlet, but they are purely the work of creator Elzie Segar (1894-1938). Segar trained
as a cartoonist through a correspondence course while working in the Chester
Opera House in Chester, Illinois. He introduced the world to Thimble Theatre in 1919. His days in vaudeville had given him a gift for storytelling, an ear
for language, and a rich vocabulary. Bud Sagendorf continued the comic strip
in 1938, and Max Fleischer popularized the characters with his animated short
films.

Gasoline Alley

Frank King

In this thirteen panel feature of Gasoline
Alley by Frank King (1883-1969), Uncle Walt and little Skeezix enjoy
a ride in Walt's roadster until the radiator boils over. Walt uses his
hat to refill the radiator from a nearby stream, making sixty two trips.
The strip debuted in 1919 but changed radically with the appearance
of Baby Skeezix on Walt's doorstep on February 14, 1921. From then on,
the characters began to age normally, a groundbreaking development in
comics. King's clear, clean drawing style and use of pure bright colors
suited the gently humorous tone of the strip. This long-lived, beloved
strip is still being published today.

Dream of the Rarebit Fiend

Winsor McCay

In this eight panel comic strip Dream
of the Rarebit Fiend by Winsor McCay (1871?-1934), a man takes a corner seat on a streetcar. Three
very large passengers join him and crowd the space so tightly that he fears
for his life as the car tips over. Awakening in the last frame, having fallen
out of bed, he blames his dream on eating Welsh rarebit. Famed for his comic
strip Little Nemo, McCay drew Rarebit under the pseudonym Silas. Each Rarebit strip features amazing physical predicaments for changing characters who awaken
at the end. His longest-lived strip, it ran in the New York Evening Telegram from 1904 to 1911 and briefly in the Herald in 1913.

Li'l Abner

Al Capp

Cartoonists often have a profound impact on social life. In 1937 Al Capp
(1909-1979) introduced Sadie Hawkins Day, in which women pursued men with the
goal toward marriage. It quickly became a national institution. In this 1943
Sadie Hawkins series, L'il Abner reads the notice about the upcoming event,
and, while he boasts he will be far away from Daisy Mae's grasp, the stars
belie him. L'il Abner eluded Daisy Mae's grasp until Capp wed his two characters
in 1952. The bold cartooning style, use of black to effect, and his ability
to spin a yarn made L'il Abner an award-winning comic strip from 1934 to 1977.

“Krazy Kat”

George Herriman

In this strip, Ignatz the mouse does his act on the flying trapeze,
only to disappoint Krazy Kat, who expected the trapeze to fly. One expects
that Krazy's disappointment will be ameliorated with the expected brick that
Ignatz clutches in the next to last panel. Offisa Pup, who often appeared in
the strip, imprisons Ignatz for his ill deeds and to protect his love, Krazy.
George Herriman (1880-1944) engaged critics with his inventive use of limited
comic strip space and unique dialogue. He joined the Hearst empire in 1910,
already a seasoned newspaper artist and defined his career with Krazy Kat.

George Herriman. “Krazy Kat,” Panel I shows
Ignatz taking a bow below the trapeze, 1942.
Published by King Features Syndicate, April 19, 1942.
Ink with scraping out over graphite underdrawing with paste-on.
Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress LC-DIG-ppmsca-03340 (72)

Mandrake the Magician

Phil Davis and Lee Falk

Mandrake the Magician, created by Lee
Falk (1911-1999) and illustrated by Phil Davis (1906-1964), had magical powers
and a cape, predating Superman. Here the three main characters, Mandrake, his
sidekick African prince Lothar, and long-term fiancée Narda, conclude their adventure in the story “Sky Raid,” which had begun in December 1960. Falk and Davis were young men when they began
their long-lasting partnership on Mandrake the Magician. Primarily a writer, Falk also created another well-known comic strip, The Phantom, shortly afterwards. In addition to writing two comic strips, Falk worked actively
in the theater, producing and writing plays.

Peanuts

Charles Schulz

In this fourteen panel strip of Peanuts,
Charlie Brown ponders his dread of the school lunch hour and his affections
for the little red-haired girl. He laments that no one wants to eat with him
and that the little red-haired girl would probably be insulted if he tried
to talk with her. Charles Schulz (1922-2000) deployed his simple drawing style
with sparse setting and plentiful white space highlighting Charlie, the very
embodiment of social anxiety and angst in this classic strip. Schulz created
characters with whom his readers could identify. His creation became one of
the most successful and beloved comic strips of all time.

The Family Circus

Bil Keane

In this panel, Billy points a finger and Jeffy stares angrily at Dolly
as she licks the spoon from a large bowl of pudding, while Mommy and PJ watch
over the action. The artwork reflects the spare line of Peanuts but with a greater emphasis on family life. Bil Keane (b. 1922) champions domestic
life in his single-panel daily cartoons and Sunday comic strips. The humor
is always gentle and yet the children are not angels. He uses the exploits
of his five children and nine grandchildren as inspiration for The Family Circus. The cartoon continues to appear daily in newspapers.

B.C.

Johnny Hart

In this three-panel comic strip of B.C. by
Johnny Hart (b. 1931), one cave man asks another if he believes in destiny,
which he defines as “the eventual occurrence of events over which we have no control.” As he watches a giant boulder about to flatten the first man, the second one
responds, “I'll let you know in a minute.” Hart's cave men and women often comment philosophically on the foibles and preoccupations
of the modern world. The award-winning comic's creator employs a minimalist
drawing style and uses word play including puns and non sequitur humor. In
1964, he also began collaborating creatively with Brant Parker on the comic
strip The Wizard of Id.

For Better or For Worse

Lynn Johnston

In this eight panel comic strip, two small children, Michael and Lizzie
fight over space. Their patient but frazzled mother Elly pastes a dividing
line of masking tape across the table, couch, window, and finally, even the
dog. Since 1979, when For Better or For Worse first appeared, Canadian artist Lynn Johnston (b. 1947) has been chronicling
the lives of the Patterson family including John the dentist father, Elly,
and children Michael and Lizzie, all of whom develop and age in real time.
In her leading modern family strip, Johnston has willingly addressed sensitive
issues such as death, aging, and sexual orientation, bringing her both acclaim
and criticism.

Cathy

Cathy Guisewite

This amusing comic strip pictures Cathy trying every effort to stay awake
during a business meeting. Debuting in 1976, Cathy Guisewite in her unapologetically
autobiographical strip addresses romance and now marriage, family relationships,
pets, food, and work, which speaks to a generation of American women pushing
up toward the glass ceiling through the ranks of middle management Award-winning
cartoonist Cathy Guisewite (b. 1950) began her career as an advertising writer.
Guisewite is the second female cartoonist to win the coveted Reuben award from
the National Cartoonists' Society.

Zippy

Bill Griffith

This single panel comic strip, Zippy,
About Face (#6), the last in a series about memorable faces, shows Zippy and Griffy commenting
on the looming face of “Henry,” a bald headed child star of the comic strip of the same name. They note his
minimal features and lack of a mouth. Zippy the Pinhead, the creation of Bill Griffith (b. 1944), appeared in the underground Real Pulp Comix #1 in 1971 and The Berkeley Barb in 1976. A daily strip since 1985, it has won a cult following. Key characters,
Zippy, the muu-muu clad pinhead, and his alter ego Griffy, complement one
another on random adventures through contemporary consumer culture, depicted
in intricately drawn art.

Bloom County

Berke Breathed

Bloom County, a popular and frequently outrageous
strip by Berke Breathed, satirized American society and political life from
December 8, 1980, to August 6, 1989. Here, Milo Bloom and Opus the penguin
discuss Opus' dated wig. Guy Berkeley “Berke” Breathed (b. 1957) began drawing comic strips at the University of Texas at
Austin. He attracted the attention of national newspaper editors, who recruited
him to create the Pulitzer Prize-winning Bloom County. Since it ceased publication he has drawn two additional strips with many of
the same characters, Outland and Opus.